Anu Adhikari, Principal of Kids Campus Monteswari in Ratopul, Kathmandu, rang one day. The children nearby watched intently. She received the phone while standing on the ground of Monteswari. She hung up the phone after the conversation, when a child ran up to her. The child asked for the phone in her hand. The officer reminded the child not to use the phone at school. But the child did not get the phone and started crying and shouting. The officer and other teachers of the school reminded the child who insisted on getting the phone.

The child calmed down, but the officer's mind could not calm down. She exclaimed, 'This has never happened in 15 years of experience . Why is it like this today?'

'What is the fault of children? "Parents are the ones who get used to it," said the official about the smartphone addiction among young children. He said, "Nani doesn't eat, if you show me the phone, she eats intelligently". They told me to feed them even though I showed them the phone. This is how it is broken.'

Kids Campus has two and a half to six year old children enrolled. The officer said that now many parents come to say that my son/daughter is wiser by showing the screen. 

Pediatrician Dr. Nibha Rajbhandari also shares the same experience as the Principal Officer . According to him, a parent brought her daughter AB (name changed) who is about four and a half years old to be examined by Dr. Niva. AB has got a 'urinary tract infection'. The infection will get better and worse. Dehydration was the cause of the infection.

'AB was fed while looking at the mobile phone. He has a habit of looking at his mobile no matter what he eats. Even to drink water and milk, she had to show her mobile phone,' says Niva, 'Abby started going to school just like that. The same problem happened at school. But the parents did not disclose the problem of their daughter to the teachers . The teachers have also asked many times to bring food from home. Abby drinks very little water even if she is given food and snacks. Because of this, AB became dehydrated and got a urinary tract infection.' , can lead to

ing problems such as low self-esteem and self-acceptance. 
Similarly, Savitri Koirala from Gokarna in Kathmandu is unable to spend time with her child as she comes from the office tired all day. So even if she doesn't want to, she says that she has to give screen or mobile phone. She says, "Both of us are not wasting our time". What to do in this case? His friend at home is the phone .'

These are only some representative incidents . But now most of the houses have the same problem . How does smartphone addiction affect children? A study published in 2021 in the National Library of Medicine, Frontiers in Psychiatry journal on the effects of excessive smartphone use on adolescents and young adults. It has been mentioned that excessive smartphone use is associated with depression, anxiety, OCD (obsessive, compulsive disorder), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder) and alcohol consumption.

Uncontrolled use of smartphones can cause problems such as difficulty in controlling their emotions, impulsive behavior, inability to focus on work, inability to work with one mind, increase in shyness in children, decrease in self-esteem and self-acceptance. 

Similarly, physical problems such as insomnia, obesity, unhealthy eating habits, headaches, migraines, and changes in some parts of the brain can cause harm.  According to the

study, using the screen for a long time has overall mental, physical and social effects. Maximum screen use increases eye strain, neck and shoulder pain. In 2015, a study from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, conducted an MRI scan to compare the brain structure of people with and without Internet addiction disorder. According to

research, people with Internet addiction disorder have changes in some parts of the brain. Changes were seen in a part of the brain that is associated with important roles such as decision-making, the ability to understand the emotions of others and self-control.

'Internet and cocaine increase the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes the brain feel happy . Which keeps pushing us to get that happy

again and again.' 
                                    -Antoine Visara,   neuroscientist

According to Saroj Ojha, a professor at the University of Teaching Hospital and psychiatrist Saroj Ojha, nowadays the child's studies are poor, he does not do daily work well, he does not do homework, he does not eat food properly, his weight increases or decreases abnormally, he does not sleep at night or late. Many parents come with problems like sleeping. "Many children have been found to have excessive screen time due to this problem," he says.

Some studies have even said that the Internet and drugs work in the same way. According to neuroscientist Antoine Vishara, professor and neuroscientist at the University of Southern California (USC) Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, addiction to the drug cocaine and the Internet work in the same way on the brain.

'Internet and cocaine increase the production of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that makes the brain feel happy . Which keeps pushing us to find that happiness again and again,'' Vishara noted in a 2017 USC Today article on smartphone and drug addiction . 

Explaining the argument that smartphone addiction causes obesity, Dr. Niva says, "Smartphones do not directly increase obesity". Children also eat for fear of not being able to watch the screen . But they eat without even knowing what they are eating. They eat a lot without knowing that they are hungry. If you don't eat carefully, the body can't digest it quickly and well.'

In 2022, Jama Pediatrics conducted a study on 422 children aged 3 to 5 years and their parents. The study showed that excessive use of mobile phones to calm children decreased their executive function and led to rapid agitation over small things, rapid mood swings, and so on. By using mobile phones frequently to calm children, over time they may not learn to manage their emotions . 

According to the World Health Organization, children under the age of one should not be exposed to screens. Likewise, 2 to 4-year-old children should not be exposed to the screen for more than one hour a day.

According to many such studies, watching screens for more than 3 to 4 hours is harmful even for adults.  But according to a study conducted by UNICEF and Child Safe Net in Nepal on children and youth after Covid, one out of four children or youth use the Internet for more than 10 hours a day. have been using . Which was 7 percent before covid and increased to 24 percent after covid. 

Similarly, a study conducted with 500 teenagers aged 13 to 17 in Kathmandu Valley in 2020 showed that almost 83 percent have their own mobile or computer. 

In 2010, Steve Jobs claimed that the iPad is a better way to browse the Internet than laptops and phones at an event held to announce the iPad. A few months later, an interview with Steve Jobs was published in the New York Times. Steve Jobs was asked if your kids would love the iPad. Steve Jobs revealed that his children do not use the iPad. He said he limited his children's use of technology.

Why did the tech giant Jobs limit his child's use of technology? Because, he is aware of the harm of excessive use of such things . 

On the other hand, according to various studies, content aimed at children is addictive. Psychiatrist Dr. Rachna Sharma also says that the contents that children watch are very addictive. Sharma said that after watching these collections once or twice, you will want to watch them again and again. 

What is the impact on young children? 

As the first three years are very important in the overall development of children, Dr. Sharma says that children under the age of three should not be exposed to screens. She says, "At this age, they learn to listen to others' conversations, start speaking, think, learn to plan, make interactions, read facial expressions, and understand emotions." Therefore, at this age, if the child is exposed to many devices, he will not develop any such skills, which directly and indirectly affects all areas. That is why the problem of visual autism is also increasing now.'  Psychiatrist Dr. Arun Kunwar says that addiction to the

device is also a cycle. If we talk about children, they don't want to go to school because they use the phone a lot and they stay at home and spend more time on the screen. Which increases the problem like anxiety and also looks at the phone to forget it . In this way, this cycle of problems continues," he said.

Kuvar said that it is more harmful to let children look at the phone or the screen to silence them when they are angry. That's why Kuwanr says that instead of suppressing natural things like anger and stubbornness, emphasis should be placed on teaching them to express themselves well.

parents are role models 

Sharma argues that parents show the screen to their children after seeing their convenience. "With a small family and busy parents, there is no one to give time to the children at home and they get used to any device," says Sharma, "gradually the daily routine becomes that way." Sharma said that people get used to not having a device, they get angry and resentful when they don't have a device. 

Parents are the first door of children's learning . Ojha says that children learn by watching their parents. But nowadays children get used to the device even after seeing their parents using the phone . Rather than saying that the child is addicted, the parents should think about whether they are becoming a role model.